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Israeli raid near Tyre, Hizbollah fires rockets

Posted on: Saturday, 5 August 2006, 02:50 CDT

By Hussein Saad

TYRE, Lebanon (Reuters) - Helicopter-borne Israeli commandos raided near the southern city of Tyre, where seven people were killed on Saturday as world powers inched toward a deal to end Israel's 25-day-old war with Hizbollah in Lebanon.

The Israeli army said eight Israeli naval commandos had been wounded, two seriously, in the operation near Tyre, which it said was aimed at Hizbollah guerrillas believed responsible for firing missiles at the Israeli city of Hadera on Friday.

At least two Hizbollah missiles landed in open areas near Hadera, about 80 km (50 miles) from the Lebanese border, marking the group's deepest rocket strike to date.

The army said a "good number" of Hizbollah fighters were killed in the Tyre raid. Lebanese security sources said four civilians and a Lebanese army soldier were killed in fighting in citrus groves just north of the city. Hizbollah said one Israeli soldier had been killed and many wounded in the battle.

Its al-Manar television station showed spent bullets strewn over the bloodstained concrete floor of a compound.

An Israeli air strike later killed two men on a motorcycle on the outskirts of Tyre, witnesses said.

The Israeli army also said one soldier had been killed and one wounded just inside Lebanon overnight when Hizbollah mortar rounds hit their vehicle. They had been hunting for rocket launchers across the border from the Israeli village of Metula.

Hizbollah, in what it said was retaliation for Israeli attacks on civilians, fired more rockets into Israel on Saturday and medics said five people had been wounded north of Haifa.

Rocket fire killed three Israeli civilians on Friday.

Israel said it had unleashed 70 air strikes on Hizbollah targets in south Lebanon overnight. A blast echoed over Beirut at dawn and al-Manar said bombs had hit a southern suburb.

DIPLOMATIC WRANGLING

In New York, the United States and France strove to overcome their differences on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at halting the conflict in which at least 734 people in Lebanon and 75 Israelis have been killed.

Paris wants existing U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanon's army to monitor a truce, while Washington wants the Israeli army to stay in southern Lebanon until an international force arrives.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has said only an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force to back the Lebanese army is acceptable. He was due to meet Assistant Secretary of State David Welch in Beirut later in the day.

France's U.N. ambassador said after talks with the United States on Friday: "We're still working on it."

Ambassador John Bolton said: "There are still some issues that we have not resolved, but I think we have come a little bit closer."

If an agreement is reached at the weekend, a Security Council vote could be held within 24 hours, officials said.

Even if outside powers agree, getting the warring parties to accept a cease-fire may not be easy.

Israel's ambassador to the United States said his country would only agree to stop fighting if Hizbollah released the two Israeli soldiers whose July 12 capture sparked the conflict.

Israel's immediate goal is "the unconditional release of the two hostages ... which would constitute the end of hostilities," Ambassador Daniel Ayalon told Reuters in Washington.

Hizbollah leaders have sworn to fight as long as any Israeli soldiers remain on Lebanese soil. At least 10,000 Israeli troops are now inside Lebanon trying to dislodge Hizbollah fighters from the border and stop them firing rockets into Israel.

Israeli air strikes also killed five Palestinians, including two militants, in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, as troops moved closer to a refugee camp as part of an offensive against militants, medics and witnesses said.

(Additional reporting by Jerusalem and United Nations bureau)

Source: REUTERS

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